Hate crime probe urged for attack on pro-Palestinian protest in New York City

A hate crime probe is being urged following an attack on a protester during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in New York City.

On Monday, an individual was reported to have thrown faeces, rubbish, and liquid out of a window in the Summit Apartments complex in midtown on pro-Palestine protesters, which also cracked the window of a police car.

"We strongly condemn this abhorrent attack on pro-Palestinian protesters. This is yet another example of an attack on Palestinian solidarity amidst the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza," Afaf Nasher, executive director of the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in a public statement.

"We call on law enforcement to investigate the incident as a possible hate crime, and we urge elected officials to publicly condemn the attack and affirm the right of their residents to peaceful assemble for political protest," she said

Since the outbreak of Israel's war on Gaza in October 2023, there has been a surge in bias incidents against Arabs and Muslims in the US. Some have been targeted for their names, for wearing a keffiyeh or for holding a Palestinian flag.

In some of the more alarming cases, a young Palestinian boy in Illinois was killed by his family's landlord; in another case a group of university students (with at least one wearing a keffiyeh) in Vermont were shot while walking down the street; and in Florida a man shot two men (who turned out to be Israeli) because he thought they were Palestinian.